Summary: this is more of a bigger picture chapter. As families move west they started creating their own communities with their own laws and rules. It starts with one family and then turns into 20 families until finally there is a community. The only difference however the family packs up and heads west on the road to California together.
Themes:
“We” vs. “I”
People vs. “Moloch”
Chapter 16
Summary: The Joads and Ivy and Sairy travel together across Oklahoma to Texas, then through New Mexico. Roseasharn tells Ma that Connie wants to take classes and get a job in a factory. Ma really doesn’t want to split up the family though. Then Al realizes that a connecting rod is broken on the car. Tom suggests that a couple of the men stay behind and fix the car while the rest of the family goes onto California. Ma refuses and says that the family needs to stay together. She threatens to hit anyone who make them split up the family, so they all decide to stay together. Al and the rest of the family head over to a camp, while Tom and Casy find a new connecting rod. They went to a junkyard and bought a connecting rod and a socket wrench. They replace the rod and drive over to the camp. They wanted to charge Tom and Casy $50 to go in so instead they park outside and walk to meet their family. Then they all talked about what lies ahead for them in California.
Themes:
People vs. “Moloch”
Strength of women
Importance of family
Characters:
The Joad family
The One eyed man – a symbol of the fact that all the farmers are getting kicked off the land but they aren’t giving up, where as all this man has lost was an eye and he gave up. People vs. “Moloch.”
Summary: this chapter switched between the bigger picture and more specific people. It talks about the burger joints along route 66, saying that Alyheru4 is like the generally silent person who does not acknowledge the people in the diners. Then there is Mae, who is the person behind the counter who is friendly and kind. As people with expensive cars and money head west and stop at these diners they manage to go in and piss off the women behind the counter because they don’t by anything and they complain and have the audacity to waste napkins when money is scarce as it is. (on a more specific note) Two truck drivers stop by a diner and while talking to Mae that explain an accident that they saw caused by a reckless driver. While this is going on a man and his two kids come in and ask for some bread. Mae doesn’t want to because the people traveling west aren’t the only ones who need to make a living, and she insists that they should buy a sandwich. But they only have so much to get them to California so Al just gets fed up and tells Mae to give them the bread, and then she ends up giving them two peppermint candies for a penny. Kind of like a domino affect, the truckers see the nice and selfless thing Mae did so they left a 35 cent tip. That shows how much doing the right thing and staying together during this hardship that everyone is facing is what its all about and nothing else can really compare, even money.
Themes:
People vs. “Moloch”, causing people to continue west and have a hard time making it, showing how scarce their money is.
“We” vs. “I” – people come together because they all know they are going through a hard time so they decide to try and stick together.
Characters:
The Truck drivers
Mae
Al
Men and Boys
Summary: this chapter is the beginning of a social shift. The theme of “I” to “We” begins to increase. And the people of California started to worry about all the on coming travelers and they started to grow anxious. The people are unaware that the changes that are happening around them are the results of circumstances, not the causes. There are many causes, such as hunger, in millions not just in a few people, like it had been in the past and men had an actual desire to work and do something useful and be productive.
Themes:
Meaning of family
“We” vs. “I”
No specific characters
Summary: the truck continues westward and eventually hits the paved highway. This makes Al worry about possible things that could cause the truck to breakdown. Al and Ma talk about what is going to happen when they get to California and Ma told Al that all that he needs to worry about is what is going on right now, and not what is in the future. They continued to drive until the sun went down and then they pulled over at a camp. They ended up camping next to a couple from Kansas whose car had broken down. The woman, Sarah or Sairy, was sick but her and her husband invited the Joad family in anyway. Then Grandpa get sick, suffers a stroke and dies. Since it costs 40 dollars to report someone dying, they decide to bury him during the night. Then Tom wrote down the cause of grandpa’s death on a page from the couple’s bible. Then, during supper, the couple talks about how Sairy being sick and their car troubles have slowed them down. So Al and Tom say they will fix their car and they suggest that the two families travel together. Sairy and Ivy refute the idea at first but then Ma convinced them that it was a good idea.
Themes:
Connection to Land
Machine vs. Nature (Car runs over the dog)
Meaning of family
Characters
Sairy and Ivy, a couple from Kansas
The Joad family
Summary: this is a chapter is about the bigger picture. It talks about route 66, which was the main route taken by the travelers heading west. It stretched from Mississippi to Bakersfield, CA. As the travelers headed west on this road they worried about their vehicles breaking down and about them running out of food and money. But they continued on hoping that what they would find in California would lead to better lives.
Themes:
People vs. “Moloch”
No specific characters
Chapter 11
Summary: (a poetic chapter) All the Tenant farmer’s house are empty. The only living things left are the people who run the tractors. There is a comparison between the horse and tractor saying that a horse continually lives, even after a day’s work however a tractor dies once the motor is shut off. (This represents the theme of Nature vs. Machine). Eventually the land will become completely vacant and the only creatures or life that will disturb the dust that covers the land will be the wild animals, the wild animals mind you that are not being controlled by “Moloch.”
Themes:
· Nature vs. Machine
· People vs. “Moloch”
No specific characters
